Is “home cooking” becoming a luxury these days?

[PetsNPaws]

I was chatting with a friend the other day about how expensive cooking at home has become — not just food prices, but everything else too. Energy bills, cookware, ingredients that used to be cheap but now feel like treats. Even a simple pasta dish doesn’t feel “budget” anymore if you want decent olive oil and veg.
It used to be that eating out was the luxury and home cooking was the sensible, money-saving option. But now, between the cost of groceries and the time it takes (especially if you’re working full-time or have kids), I’m not sure that’s true anymore.
I genuinely enjoy cooking, but I’ve noticed I’m doing it less because I can’t justify the effort when it’s often cheaper or easier to grab something ready-made.
Has anyone else noticed this shift? Do you still find cooking from scratch worthwhile, or is it turning into something only people with time and money can afford to do properly?

@TheGoodEnoughWife

These same people then describe meals that always cost ‘pennies’ however by the time you are buying the cheapest ingredients the result is no better nutritionally then the ready meals or the ingredients are so stretched (500g mince does us a meal for six with leftovers for the next day - yeah right!) the calories per person are so low as to not be enough food anyway - therefore needing bulking out with snacks or bread or whatnot.

Sorry but no way is a ready meal nutritionally equivalent to home-cooked food. Even a high quality ready meal is packed full of preservatives and e-numbers. A basic pasta with tomato sauce and grated cheese with a side salad or even just frozen peas is cheaper than a ready meal and far better for you. Protein does push the cost up but its not obligatory to have meat in every meal. I'm not averse to the odd ready meal but it's daft to pretend that doing this every day is cheaper than cooking from scratch.

If you buy a pack of 500g mince you can make a bolognese sauce which will do 3 portions of bolognese pasta and then two to three servings of chilli con carne (with the addition of some kidney beans) two days later. I frequently do this on a Tuesday night and it provides a meal for three on the evening and then two sets of leftover lunches during the week with pasta and rice.

I get that but used ingredients wise that lasagna could be pretty much same price or cheaper considering it's only like 14% meat and lots of cheap fillers.

I miss counter butchers and fishmongers in supermarkets in UK. You buy only what you need.

I think the main issue is the predominance of supermarkets these days.
I remember, back in the mists of time, when the local green grocer delivered a box of fruit and vegetables every week, meat and fish came from the local butcher and fishmonger, bread from the bakery, milk was delivered several times a week etc. etc.
Not entirely sure where cleaning products or loo rolls were bought, because when you are 3 or so, you really do not have any of these things on your radar, but I do remember (around age 8 or 9) having trips to the cash and carry.
Chocolate, sweets, crisps etc. were treats, once a week at the most. There was no "snacking" in today's sense of the word, if you were hungry between meals an apple or banana were the only options.
We ate well, very healthily and all learned to cook and bake.
Yes, cooking from scratch does require thought, care and planning, but it is also a sign that you value and respect your family as well as wanting the best for them - remember that food and nutrition are vital to good development and good health.
I left the UK several decades ago and still relish the fact that I can do my food shopping in dedicated specialist shops as well as visit the local weekly markets for local vegetables, fruit and other "treats". If I added the equivalent of my hourly rate to the cost of buying, preparing and cooking food, we could probably dine at Michelin * restaurants every week, but that is not the point, is it?

@PaddlingSwan you are correct - just been to the Netherlands for a few days - fabulous Saturday food market on square in Haarlem- great meat, 3 or 4 superb fresh fish stalls, excellent bread/baked goods - marvellous salad and veg stalls, herbs, deli, cheese etc - and yes their. Supermarkets were pretty good too ( didn’t see a single Aldi or Lidl either, are they not a thing there? )

Good Lord, I don't know what you're coocking at home but my grocery budget as a 30 something single is £20 a week - tops - and i eat healthy home cooked meals. opposite to that is ordering something which is usually £20 minimum, or the equivalent of 4 ready meals.... i think maybe you are shopping in the wrong places!

A lot of cities with more ethnically diverse populations still have food markets and dedicated shops. Turkish shops are great places to get cheaper herbs and spices and fresh veg.

Ready meals are not nutritionally equivalent to made from scratch, and there are meals which are still relatively cheap to make. Veg stew made with a tin of butter beans is cheap and easy.

We cook at home every day, taking it in turns, and no, I don't find it expensive. I don't understand how ready meals can be cheaper, unless they are really low quality. I can't eat pasta ready meals - the pasta is always overcooked. The portion sizes are small too. Tiny amounts of veg. Also, most of them serve 2, so to cater for a family, you'd have to buy a couple or more, racking the price up.

Ready meals are never cheaper and seldom taste as good.

That’s simply not true. Unless maybe you’re shopping in booths or Waitrose for your basics

I’ve definitely noticed prices increasing for everything and there’s not many ‘cheap’ home cooked meals now.

But eating out has increased way more and we’re eating out and getting takeaways a lot less.

And no to ready meals being cheaper. The supermarket ones are barely food and the portions are tiny. With a house of teenagers they’d end up eating all evening in that was their dinner rather than as much as they wanted of a home cooked meal.

£20/week? 😳
Im pretty sure i spent more than that 25 years ago when it was single, and I didnt eat expensively

Box of ceral, box of eggs, block of cheese, veggies, a form of meat depending on the week - bread, milk, condiments, and usually one a week depending on which is needed in the way of cleaning supplies or washing liquid. at a push at the end of the month i can do it for 10, though its nothing glamerous - usually omlettes and salad.

Appreciate your opinion however you missed my point - it would cost the same for me to get all those ingredients from scratch and make it myself!

As an alternative, I could get a large pizza for £12, all the ingredients at the same quality/taste would come to more. Cheese alone costs a third of that, if not more. It’s not like I can buy a handful of toppings either, I’d have to buy a full sized pepper or tomatoes or Parmesan etc and either make the sauce from scratch or buy premade. Likewise with the dough. All those individual ingredients are more than £12. Again, my point being that the savings from home cooking are more apparent when you’re cooking for more people.

I can imagine this to be possible too. I’m really surprised at how cheap Sainsbury’s is. They have loads of things that cost under £1, I think they’re price matching another supermarket atm.

Aww thanks! Well I got into tech which has been fulfilling. For advice for him, I’d say put yourself forward for new opportunities, don’t be afraid to embarrass yourself, equally don’t be afraid to say no to things that aren’t suitable for you/aren’t working towards your goals.

You are talking nonsense.

Do you even know how to cook. A pantry of your staples will go a very long way. Very long way. So will beans, spices, oil , baking goods etc.

Do you know how easy it is to make your own pasta sauce?

how easy and cheap it is to buy your meats, portion them and cook?

I have just a M&S and Waitrose near me so do all food shopping there. Meat is insanely cheap. Where can you get loads of chicken at reasonable prices and then meal prep them?

Theres a lot of things in this country that is expensive but food here is just dirt cheap. When family travels here from other countries, they always mention how cheap it is and I agree. You always have deals on everything too.

if you think food is expensive then you just don’t know how to cook.

Do you know how insanely easy it is to make up a batch of pancakes. My 9yo does it himself and I can’t remember the last time I bought ingredients specifically for that. People just don’t know/ too lazy to cook.

I try to make stuff from scratch all the time we never eat out ( can’t afford it ) and Gadz Just eat and deliveroo to me is discusting always a disappointment ( I’ve seen others buy it )

@Fabulously I could make a pizza from scratch for less than £12 and it would feed four adults, assuming I already have olive
oil in the cupboard. I would need flour, salt, yeast, tin of tomatoes or passata, mozzarella or cheddar and then maybe some ham, red onion and red pepper for the topping. Then there would be leftovers from all of the cheddar / mozzarella, ham, salt and flour to use for next time. The more you cook this way, the cheaper it becomes as you would rarely use up the ingredients each time. And you would have leftovers. It’s a lot cheaper in real terms.

I haven't missed your point, it's just not the case that you couldn't make yourself a chicken burger and chips for less than £20.

You may feel like eating out is cheaper than cooking on each individual occasion (I don't know where on earth you're shopping for that to be the case, but you do you) - but that £4 block of cheese wouldn't all be used on that one pizza, and you can then use the rest for other meals. I well understand economies of scale but you can also take advantage of them by utilising your fridge and freezer.

@Worriedalltheday I’m glad someone else said this- I do 90% of my food shop at M&S, Waitrose and farm shops and eat incredibly well for around £90 a week for 2 of us . That includes the fact my H likes expensive juice and vegetable juice, we have salmon every week, he buys ramen kits, I buy berries etc . I do however have 2 meals a week where I make something based on whatever I have left - so mushroom stroganoff tonight with a bit of added chicken breast etc - I can rage on rent costs or my ludicrous utilities or council tax , but food is one of the lesser of my issues because it’s controllable to some extent and if necessary could eat beans on toast, soup, omelettes, etc - I can’t vary my rent or council tax

Again, I covered all that in my initial post. I’m pedantically repeating myself here but if one person is doing that, my experience was fresh fruit & veg tends to go off before being fully utilised. Plus meals lack variety, ie having to eat the same thing all week to use fresh ingredients up before they go off. I also specifically mentioned the same quality ie not buying the absolute cheapest food.

I think this is over stated TBH. Take the pizza example - ingredients:

Flour - lasts for ages
Yeast - Ditto
Olive oil - same

Then your fresh ingredients -

Cheese - will last several weeks
Roast some mushrooms/peppers for the topping

You can have a hummus and roasted veg sandwich later in the week to use up the veg

Or fry up left over mushrooms and peppers and have that in fajitas later in the week

I don't think there is much there that doesn't last and I can live with having the same veg in two totally different meals in a week.